This page contains the guidelines for Character Tags. For more general information, please see the Wrangling Intro page.

Character tags refer to tags Users may input into the Character field during story creation. The base rules should always be applied first, except for characters with a single name only (see Characters with a Single Name) and characters from sources not originally in English (see Non-English Canons).

Note: A Character usually refers to a specific individual or specifically-named group of individuals. Wranglers, at their discretion, may canonize inanimate objects as Characters if the object is a recurrent participant in fanworks - this is rare.

Initials, titles and suffixes should only be used if they are the standard in the source canon, to disambiguate otherwise similar names, or if they are part of a stage name. Characters with only a title and family name (no given name) should be treated like a single-name character and may require disambiguation.

Names using initials rather than full names should generally be formatted according to the source canon. However, when using a period/full stop, always follow with a space (due to issues in the formatting of tags, which may glitch otherwise).

Abbreviated titles, such as Mr., Mrs., Dr. etc, should be formatted as they are in the original source canon (for most North American sources, with a period and a space after the abbreviation; for many British sources, no full stop, etc.) If the canon's formatting is unclear or variable, and with ambiguous No Fandom tags not associated with specific fandoms, default to the American formatting of a period/full stop and a space after the abbreviation: "Dr. Smith".

Spelling and capitalisation should match the source material - e.g. Keladry of Mindelan, not Keladry Of Mindelan. If there are conflicting canonical sources, or no clear canonical sources, try to canonize what is in most common use in the fandom. In some cases a disambiguated single name may be preferable to a contended full name for a character.

Characters with a single name need an appropriate fandom disambiguation to make them unambiguous. A character with a title or honorific (Dr., Mrs., Frau, Sir, Captain, Princess, etc.) is still considered to have a single name.

CANONICAL: Professor Zei (Avatar)

CANONICAL: Sister Olga (Orphan Black)

CANONICAL: Intern Joe (The Creatures)

When disambiguating, use only the title of the fandom without qualifiers such as year or author, and use the most general/metafandom form, unless disambiguating between distinctly different characters within the same metafandom.

When disambiguating characters from translated fandoms, use only the original fandom name

CANONICAL: Nanako (Tennis no Oujisama)

SYNONYM: Nanako (Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis))

Single-name characters with different original and translated names do not usually need disambiguation; the different translation is enough, unless another character on the archive shares the same original and translated name.

CANONICAL: Kasumi | Misty

SYNONYM: Misty (Pokemon)

With Metatags, ambiguous single name tags are made into metatags, with disambiguated subtags. See Tag Wrangler Guidelines - Metatags for more detailed information. Multiple-fandom spanning characters may not need a qualifier.

This refers to alternative terms used to identify the same character, as used either within the source material or by the fandom.

Standard Format: Nicknames can be made canonical if the character is primarily called by the nickname in the source material and/or fandom.

CANONICAL: Sam Carter

SYNONYM: Samantha Carter

CANONICAL: Xander Harris

SYNONYM: Alexander Harris, Alexander "Xander" Harris

CANONICAL: Reginald Barclay

SYNONYM: Reg Barclay, Reginald "Broccoli" Barclay

The form GIVENNAME "NICKNAME" FAMILYNAME may be used as appropriate, at wrangler discretion, if the nickname is important for recognition or disambiguation. The nickname should be surrounded by double quotes. (NOTE: Only use the nickname form if the fandom uses the nickname and full name roughly equally. If the nickname is far more commonly used than the character's real name, then canonize as NICKNAME FAMILYNAME.)

This refers to characters who are not named in the source material. There are two approaches to unnamed characters: to go with fandom names ("Bob the Haitian") (only recommended in cases where the fanon name is widespread and already in use on the Archive) or go with a descriptor, such as in movie credits ("Second man with unicycle").

For canonical characters who are not named in canon, and whose character tags consist of a description of the character or a generic title, their canonical tag should also be disambiguated with the fandom.

For a character who changes their name over the course of canon (due to adoption, divorce, gender presentation change, marriage, or other plot reason), choose the canonical based on:

A transgender character's in-canon stated preference;

CANONICAL: Sheldon Beiste

SYNONYM: Shannon Beiste

Which name they went by at the start of canon;

CANONICAL: Elizabeth Bennet

SYNONYM: Elizabeth Darcy

How long they went by a name (i.e. were they known as one for longer than the other in the canon);

CANONICAL: Genjo Sanzo

SYNONYM: Kouryuu (Saiyuki)

Which name the fans most often use/is most common on the Archive.

If multiple names are commonly used in the fandom, the canonical can incorporate them both; e.g. "Lily Evans Potter". If the names are sufficiently distinct, canonicals can be constructed with a "|", similar to translated names.

Note: In cases with an identity reveal, an alter ego, or a pseudonym, it may be clearer and more appropriate to pipe the names as per the guidelines in Characters > Alter Egos.

This refers to characters, actors and performers who have a public and private identity, as well as instances of a character acting OOC for whatever reason, where the character is still, fundamentally, the same character.

Standard Format: One name is chosen and made CANONICAL. This name should be:

Easily recognizable as referring to all identities OR

The most commonly used name in the source material OR

The name with the greatest recognition in popular culture.

CANONICAL: Dean Winchester

SYNONYM: Evil!Dean Winchester

CANONICAL: Himura Kenshin

SYNONYM: Battousai

CANONICAL: Raven (DCU)

SYNONYMs: Rachael Roth, EvilLesbian!Raven

CANONICAL: Nora Roberts

SYNONYMs: J D Robb, Sarah Hardesty, Jill March

If a character's real name and alter ego/pseudonym are both about as well-known/well-used in the fandom, canonicals can be constructed with a "|", similar to translated names:

CANONICAL: Karina Lyle | Blue Rose

SYNONYMS: Blue Rose, Karina Lyle

CANONICAL: Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard

SYNONYMS: Mary Margaret Blanchard, Snow White (Once Upon a Time)

In cases involving an identity reveal, it may be clearer and more appropriate to pipe the names; e.g. "Amanda Clarke | Emily Thorne". In these cases, list them in the order in which they appear in canon for that character.

This is an interim solution that only applies to superhero names that are currently canonical on the archive; you do not need to canonize names that are currently synonyms but can leave them be. (We're looking into improved ways of handling superhero/alter ego tags, but we are hoping to get a new coding feature and are waiting until we have more information on that.)

Note: If you feel that subtagging would be inappropriate for a particular case, you can alternately make the superhero name a completely separate canonical, unlinked to any alter ego.

This refers to characters who have been re-incarnated or otherwise had previous existences, or who have multiple personalities where each personality is treated as a unique individual. The guidelines for Alter Egos & Secret Identities should be applied before using the following.

Standard Format: Both or all names are CANONICAL.

CANONICALs: Dr. Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde

CANONICALs: Mutou Yuugi, Yami Yuugi

Alter egos/previous incarnations may also be meta-tagged, if appropriate for the characters:

If the alternate version of a character is a fan-created version, not from the source fandom and the name is the same as the original character, syn to the canonical character. Do not canonize fan-created character variants. (Note: such variants can be canonized in the Freeform tags, if they get enough uses.):

CANONICAL: Dean Winchester

SYNONYMS: girl!Dean Winchester, Vampire!Dean Winchester

If a fan-created-alternate version of a character has a different name from the original, treat it as a fanon Original Character - leave it unfilterable in the fandom unless the name has been used by more than 3 users; then canonize that name and subtag it under the canonical character.

"Non-English Canons" are any sources that were not originally in English. Follow the guidelines below regardless of the size of the English-speaking fandom or the English-speaking fandom's familiarity with the original language names.

For anything not covered in this section, follow the English-language fandom guidelines.

Original Name Matches English Translation Name

Standard Format: Use the naming order used in the original (untranslated) canon.

Note:East Asian characters from East Asian-language canons will often use the order: FAMILY_NAME GIVEN_NAME. However, characters in Asian-language canon who are Western, Asian-American, from outer space, etc. might or might not use standard name order. Check the canon! Other canons may have alternate name ordering - when in doubt, follow the order given in the untranslated canon material.

Note: Honorifics, Initials, titles and suffixes should be avoided. Only use if they are commonly used in the source material, to separate otherwise similar names, or if they are part of a stage name.

CANONICAL: Kinomoto Sakura

Sakura is a Japanese character from a Japanese-language series. "Kinomoto" is her family name.

CANONICAL: Heero Yuy

Heero is a character of Japanese descent from a Japanese-language series. "Yuy" is his family name, and his last name in the original Japanese canon.

Original Name is Different from English Translation Name

When the original name does not match the name used in the English translation, use the following format:

Standard Format: ORIGINAL LANGUAGE NAME | ENGLISH TRANSLATION NAME

CANONICAL: Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright

SYNONYM: Phoenix Wright

The original language name should be in the appropriate name order for that language. The English name should be the character's name as it appears in the English translation of the canon.

If there are multiple official translations with multiple versions of the names, use whatever will be clearest while still following the rule above:

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE NAME AS ROMANIZED IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION 1 | ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 NAME

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE NAME | ENGLISH TRANSLATION 1 NAME | ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 NAME

No English Translation

If there is no official English translation and no common fan translation:

Languages written in the Latin alphabet and its derivatives: Use the names from the original canon (including diacritics or other special characters not normally found in English).

Languages written in other writing systems: Use either a standard romanization or the romanization most common in fandom.

Nicknames in Non-English Language Canons

These should follow the other guidelines for names from non-English canons as well as the general nickname guidelines except for the one on name order. Nicknames should follow whatever order makes the most sense given the name orders in the canon in the original language. The following are the most common:

GIVENNAME "Nickname" FAMILYNAME

FAMILYNAME "Nickname" GIVENNAME

FAMILYNAME GIVENNAME | Nickname

Multi-Language Canons

In some cases it will be desirable or necessary to use versions of names from multiple languages.

Standard Format: FIRST ORIGINAL LANGUAGE NAME | SECOND ORIGINAL LANGUAGE NAME

CANONICAL: Jupiter Jones | Justus Jonas

SYNONYMS: Jupiter Jones, Justus Jonas
(The Three Investigators series was originally published in English. It then became popular in German translation and the series was continued with original material in German.)

This section covers policies on characters tags that are not canonical character names. These refer to Character tags; syn Relationships with OCs to the appropriate Canonical Character/Original Male/Female Character tags, as per the Relationship guidelines.

Characters like 'a bartender' or 'Dad' go in the "No Fandom" fandom. They may be made canonicals or syns if they are commonly used for a specific individual. Disambiguated, fandom-specific subtags may be made if users tag for such.

Fanon names for canon characters (e.g. common fanon genderswapped names) and semi-original characters like "Ken Hutchinson's dad" or "Eleventh Doctor (fan created)" go in the applicable fandom. Some of them should remain unfilterable. Some should be syns or even canonical depending on the exact tag and fandom.

Original Character names with a clear connection to a particular fandom (e.g. "Hamish Watson-Holmes") should be kept in that fandom.

Popular and frequently recurring fanon OCs may in some special cases be canonized, if they are used by multiple creators (at least 3, generally 5 or more, dependent on the size of the fandom).

This refers to characters with the same name who appear in the canons of more than one fandom.

Characters who have the same name and are exactly or essentially the same character across multiple related fandoms: one canonical tag for all versions of the character.

CANONICAL Jack Harkness

Child tag of: Doctor Who, Torchwood fandom tags

Characters who appear in several related fandoms and are understood to be the same character, even if portrayed by different actors and with different interpretations.

CANONICAL: Lex Luthor

Child tag of: DCU, Smallville.

Characters who appear in multiple unrelated fandoms, which may be characterised differently in each fandom but are recognisably the same character, and can be uniquely identified by users when they see or filter by the work's Fandom tag: one canonical tag for all versions of the character.

Note: This includes various depictions of historical figures across both RPF and fictional fandoms, e.g.: Nikola Tesla, Okita Souji. The character should have one tag, which can be added to as many fandoms as is appropriate.

Note: Some character portrayals may be distinct enough that one or more fandoms request disabmiguation: see "Loki (Marvel)" vs. "Loki (Norse Religion & Lore)" as well as the other Asgardians. When in doubt, disambiguate as per the following guideline.

Characters who have the same name but are not at all the same character should be disambiguated.

Note: If two characters share the same name except for diacritics, then the metatag should be the versions without the diacritic.

Characters who have the same name as a multi-Fandom character, but are not at all the same character should be disambiguated where the characters are different.

CANONICAL: Lucifer

CANONICAL SUBTAG: Lucifer (Modesty Blaise)

CANONICAL: Athena

CANONICAL SUBTAG: Athena (BSG 1978)

Different characters who have the same name and are in the same fandom should be disambiguated in a way that makes sense to the wrangers of that fandom. Follow the fandom's practice without straying too far from guidelines. You may have to use the suffixes or titles we normally eschew.

Character tags that can be mistaken for freeform tags, such as a concept or an object, should be disambiguated with "(Character)". These tags belong in "No Fandom" as ambiguous metatags.

CANONICAL: Cat (Character)

SYNONYM: Cat - Character

CANONICAL METATAG: War (Character)

CANONICAL SUBTAG: War (Good Omens)

CANONICAL SUBTAG: War (Supernatural)

CANONICAL METATAG: Skull (Character)

CANONICAL SUBTAG: Skull (Reborn)

CANONICAL METATAG: South Africa (Character)

CANONICAL SUBTAG: South Africa (Hetalia)

Note: The disambiguation (Character) is only to be used for No Fandom ambiguous tags. Fandom specific tags that require disambiguation should use (Fandom Name).

Guideline updated 18 April 2017

Anthropomorphic Characters

Common anthropomorphized concepts and characters should be disambiguated with "(Anthropomorphic)" and treated like characters shared by fandoms, subtagged under the general character metatag. See Shared Character guidelines.

Note: Anthropomorphic characters should be canonized following the same guidelines as other 'Original Characters': they require at least 3 uses before they are made canonical. See Common Original Characters. Character tags with less than three uses should be left as unfilterable in the appropriate Anthropomorphic fandom.

Teams and other groups can be made canonicals; use whatever form makes the most sense for the canon.

Characters who make up a group are not subtagged to the group canonical, nor are groups subtagged to their canonical characters.

Note: This is because group canonicals are used to indicate the entire group. Subtagging individual characters would mean that users looking for works featuring the entire group would also see works featuring only one or two characters in their results. For similar reasons, groups are also not subtagged to the canonical characters who make up the group.